Appreciating cars, old and new, and the caps to wear while driving them
Editor’s note: The scribe is under the weather this week so we’re running a never-before-printed column on the Sept. 30 breakfast and hope he is shining like the sun again soon.
SLINGERLANDS — Thirty-seven degrees this morning. That just about tells you all you need to know about the weather.
We did manage to arrive at the Windowbox Café on time and were greeted by Bob, the owner, outside looking at the classic, very early 1950s, Hudson automobile. So we stayed outside with him. Bob is also the chief cook and bottle washer; as long as he was outside, he wasn’t inside cooking anything for anybody!
But it sure was nice to take a moment to appreciate this fine old classic car. The OF who owns it had it so clean and shined up it would glow in the dark!
We did go inside; we made Bob get back to work against his wishes. We said hello to the other OFs who were already there and our waitress brought the ever-present coffee, and the conversations about old cars and engines versus new cars and engines started right away. As usual.
Another OF arrived on his motorcycle so naturally a new conversation promptly started about motorcycles. Of course the first conversation didn't stop or even slow down; the noise level just went up some more.
About that time someone commented about the brand new Corvette sitting out in the parking lot. Yup, another conversation started going about even bigger, faster sports cars (and the price tags that go with them) which of course got the OFs with their classic sports cars in which you must wear the classic English “Flat Cap,” or, if you are in Ireland, you would call it a “Paddy Cap.”
By the way, the Flat Cap originated in northern England. The things you learn while at breakfast with the OMOTM is amazing.
Boat-ramp
challenges
To change the subject entirely, even abruptly, without warning or even with an appropriate segue to ease this column’s transition from cars and motors old and new, all the way to observations witnessed at a local boat launch this weekend. I happened to be at the boat launch to help a fellow OF take his pontoon boat out of the lake.
There are some jobs that simply require more than one person to accomplish. This was one of those times.
If there is only one of you, how can you get both your truck and boat trailer to the boat launch and your boat there at the same time? If you drive your truck and trailer first, then you are faced with the prospect of getting back to your boat, which is across the lake and at the other end.
Or, if you bring the boat to the launch first, you must find a way to go get the trailer, which, of course, is across the lake at the other end. You must have a second person to either drive the boat to the launch, or drive the truck and boat trailer over to the launch. Or, if you are going to do all the driving of both boat and truck, you need someone to at least provide your transportation from place to place.
OK, now that we have all the players at the boat launch, it is time to actually put the boat on the trailer and go home. This is where the fun and games start to happen. Or rather, this is when we start to separate the men from the boys, or the rookies from the pros.
Exactly, how good are you at backing that boat trailer straight down that boat ramp? At some point at this particular boat ramp, you lose sight of your trailer because it is going down the ramp and you are still up high on level ground. All you can see in your mirror, or out the back window, is air and the water in the distance. No trailer.
If you are a rookie, about now is when someone is yelling at you to stop backing up because your boat trailer is now in sight at a right angle to your car or truck. They are telling you to go forward and start over again.
If you are lucky, after you have tried a couple of times, a nice person will ask if they could help you. Now is the time that you swallow your rookie pride and quickly say, “Yes! Thank you!” and get out of the way.
The next question you have is, “How far does the trailer go into the water?”
Never mind, the guy backing the trailer down the ramp knows.
Then comes, “How do I line this boat up with the trailer and then get the boat all the way on?” Winch? What’s that? How does that work? You mean I have to get wet?
Don’t worry if there is a line starting to form, waiting for you to get your boat out, and not all of them are smiling. A couple of them will step forward and offer to help, and your response is the same as before, “Yes! Thank you!” and get out of the way.
In short order, your boat is securely on the trailer and up on dry level land and those nice people are telling you not to worry.
They are saying, “Don’t worry, we have all been there, every last one of us. We are not rookies now, but each and every one of us was a rookie at one time or another and we are laughing at our own memories, not of what just happened to you.”
You can laugh at yourself next year, or maybe when you get home today.
By the way, the OF and I got his boat out in a matter of minutes. After all, we are not rookies, we are the OMOTM, and pros at the boat ramp!
More boat ramp stories in the future, but it is time for the attendance list: Harold Guest, Wally Guest, Ed Goff, Roland Tozer, Wm Lichliter, Jim Austin, Pete Whitbeck, Frank Dees, Russ Pokorny, Chuck Batcher, Gerry Chartier, Lou Schenck, Jake Herzog, Pastor Jay Francis, Elwood Vanderbilt, Bob Donnelly, Dave Hodgetts, Alan DeFazzio, Henry Whipple, Gerry Cross, Jack Norray, John Jaz, Dick Dexter, and me.